Cage kept at Udaipur airport to tackle stray animals

Udaipur : Concerned by the growing menace of stray animals at the Maharana Pratap airport at Dabok , the forest authorities have kept a cage after identification of a sensitive spot here. At a meeting of the airport environment management committee on Monday, the issue was discussed at length and suggestions were made to keep stray animals specially jackals out of the airport premises and runway area. Last week, a jackal hit an aeroplane of Jet airways causing an emergency landing, luckily a mishap was averted thus preventing harm to life and property. After the matter was reported to the administration, the expertise of forest department was sought for taking immediate steps to prevent such incidents in future.

Apart from stray jackals, controlling the proliferation of wild cats, dogs and birds have been also included in the program. There have been instances when the stray animals were not only found around the airport boundary, but also managed to get onto the runway. According to sources, grasslands and thick vegetation growing around the area, radar pits and drains offers favorable environment for wild habitats specially jackals which remain inside their hideouts during the daytime and come out for hunting preys after sunset.

” We are lucky that no mishaps have occurred as of date, but we cannot rule out the possibility. The officials have been asked to keep extra vigil specially during take offs after dusk” an officer said.